The Crucible- What Does Arthur Miller Suggest Are the Dangers Inherent in a Dualistic Universe free essay sample

Arthur Miller suggests several different dangers inherent in a dualistic view of the universe in his play, The Crucible. He firstly presents those that strongly follow Evangelical Christianity, and cannot admit their mistakes, but only blame others for their problems. In comparison, he then illustrates to the reader those that have a more realistic view of Christianity, realizing their sins, and standing up for what they believe is moral. By dividing the two conflicting aspects of the world, Miller demonstrates the many potential dangers in the village, which in the final stages come together to create one of the deadliest clashes for an untainted religion. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, Miller presents one of The Crucible’s complications, the dualistic ideology, as a conflicting problem amongst the people. The Puritan town, always remaining in the light of God, are very religious, attending church every day, reading only from the bible, and forbidding anything resembling a theatre or ‘vain enjoyment’. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible- What Does Arthur Miller Suggest Are the Dangers Inherent in a Dualistic Universe or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It may seem that there is nothing harmful about a religious community, though within Salem people are constantly judging one another on how religiously pure they are, which causes the initial tensions. So when some teenage girls get up to mischief, and bring the devil’s presence into the situation, people begin accusing each other of who they believe are not as pure as them. They even begin to accuse those they wish to get revenge upon, of siding with Satan, creating potential dangers in the town. Before long, Miller has divided Salem into two dualistic views: those who, as good Christians should, are more realistic about the presence of the devil in their community, and those who have been misled into believing Satan is ‘loose in Salem’, and who accuse their enemies of siding with the devil. Miller suggests that those who have a black and white view of the universe are the accusers in Salem, and are the cause for many of the dangers evident in this town. Thomas Putnam, who regards himself as an ‘intellectual superior, accuses others in spite of his faults, and puts their lives in danger. When the word of the devil is spoken, Putnam and his wife take the opportunity to accuse Rebecca Nurse for the deliberate deaths of seven of their babies. Of course, it can be seen that in 1692 it was quite common for women to have miscarriages, though they were led to believe the devil must have had something to do with it. This accusation puts Rebecca Nurse’s life in danger, as well as jeopardizing the respect she holds within the community. Miller foreshadows the danger Rebecca Nurse finds herself in through Mrs. Putman, when she says critically to Rebecca Nurse, ‘You think it’s God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one? ’ Goody Putnam’s words create the initial accusation against Rebecca Nurse that in the end, take her life. Likewise, Samuel Parris, the reverend in Salem, who is always putting in ‘his best efforts to win the people and God to his side’, is also misled into believing that the devil is loose in the village. A good example of this is when Mr. Parris sides with Abigail, his foolish niece, in believing that Betty has had a spell conjured on her by Tituba, one of the individualists in the town. He does this as a protection for his daughter, Betty Parris, and to avoid personal judgement. Due to his black and white view of the universe, he is misled into lying to withhold his safety, and in place, puts innocent Tituba’s life at risk. Both Putnam’s and Parris’s Evangelical view of the universe cause them to wrongly accuse other people, putting innocent villagers’ lives at risk. Miller suggests that those who refuse to uphold a dualistic view of the universe and speak their mind in Salem put themselves in danger. Reverend Hale is the only superior in Salem that fights to defend the people wrongly accused of witchcraft. Not siding with those that are accusing others, he puts his job and, therefore, his authority in danger. Miller demonstrates the danger Hale puts himself in when he begins to not only doubt Danforth’s judgement but also ignore his orders when he says, ‘I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it’. By refusing to sign any more death warrants for Danforth, Hale puts the importance of his position at stake, and loses much of his power in the courtroom. Just as Hale refuses to contain speaking his mind, John Proctor, a farmer in his thirties, denies conjuring witchcraft. John, being innocent, cannot imagine living life with his dignity erased, making the tough decision to be separated from his family. One who, like Proctor, refuses to confess to witch craft is the frail nurturer of Salem, Rebecca Nurse, who is faithful to her conscience, even after being accused of intentionally killing seven of the Putnams’ children. As goody Proctor says to Hale, ‘you will never believe, I hope, that Rebecca trafficked with the devil’. This shows how the town views her as a kind of a saint, yet due to the corruption of others, she is accused of siding with the devil, her life in jeopardy. Both Hale, Proctor, and Rebecca Nurse’s inability to uphold a dualistic ideology puts them in grave danger from those who continue to believe the devil is roaming Salem. When living in a dualistic universe many dangers are inherent for those fighting for what they believe in. Through characters and events Miller conveys these dangers, and demonstrates what can happen when you speak your mind. Putnam, Parris, Hale, Proctor, and Rebecca Nurse all stubbornly stuck to their beliefs, and put others lives and their own in danger.

Bank of America Investment Potential

Bank of America Investment Potential Introduction In this report, the Bank of America Corporation (BAC) share price is analysed in the context of the current economic situation and the companys performance. The latter is described through the analysis of the companys financial statements and is compared to the performance of the primary BAC competitors.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Bank of America Investment Potential specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In terms of the industry, BAC is in an extremely strong position; still, the current performance of the company is worse than would be expected. The beta of BAC demonstrates that its share price is relatively stable, and significant changes are not to be expected in the near future. At the same time, given the air of uncertainty that is characteristic of the current economic situation, both the drop and the increase can occur, which is why â€Å"hold† proposition appears to be the most reasonable option. Economy: General Overview Global Economy The importance of the economic context for the investment decision development has been highlighted, for example, by Damodaran (2006), Bodie, Kane and Marcus (2011), Bloom (2014), or Lofthouse (2001) as a part of fundamental analysis. Indeed, the changes on the micro- and macroeconomic levels tend to affect the performance of most companies. Consequently, determining the specifics of current global and domestic economic situation may be helpful for an investment decision. According to the Bank of America Corporation [BAC] (2015a), throughout 2014, the economic growth of the major markets appeared to be modest and uncertain, with Japanese market contracting, Greek problem destabilising the eurozone, and Russia suffering from the sanctions and oil prices drop (BAC 2015a, p. 20). The United Nations [UN] (2015) confirms that the global economic expansion rate has been 2.6% in 2014, which is lower than the precrisis level (p. 5). The mone tary policy adjustments that are being made, for example, in Japan and China, can increase instability (UN 2015). The pre-crisis international trade rates are still not achieved, and even though they are projected to proceed with the â€Å"sluggish growth†, risks the geopolitical conflicts undermine this possibility (UN 2015, p. 6). Indeed, the situation in the market can be determined by non-economic factors as well, particularly those that can be classified as â€Å"bad news† (Bloom 2014, pp. 161). UN (2015) confirms that the political conflicts of the recent months contribute to the restriction of the global economic growth. The actions of ISIS and the recent terrorist attacks are among these conflicts. Indeed, apart from the direct damage to the property, such outbursts can significantly harm tourism and create a decline in consumption as people grow wary of visiting downtowns. Apart from that, these events almost definitely result in increased security expenses an d can potentially damage international trade if national borders become less open (Buttonwood Column 2015; Laird 2015).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More All these problems are the direct effect of terrorism on the economy and are expected to be relatively short-lived (Buttonwood Column 2015) Apart from that, the growing anxiety (if not panic) contributes to the general feeling of uncertainty and insecurity, which also tends to reduce the investment activity (Laird 2015; Bloom 2014). Therefore, the current global economic situation will be significantly affected by this sense of insecurity. Another global economic problem is the oil prices decrease. The increase in the US oil production, which has led to the decline in oil prices, might be considered a plus from the political point of view as it reduces the oil-trading possibilities of ISIS (Chafuen 2015). Apart fro m that, the reduction is obviously beneficial for the customers, but, in other respects, lower oil prices damage the global economy. This damage is primarily caused by the difficulties experienced by the oil industry that include, for example, the reduction of employment in the sector as well as the decrease in wages (Kawa 2015). The UN (2015) forecasts are uncertain: while the possibility of further economic growth is pointed out in the report on the world economic prospects, it is also highlighted that there exist â€Å"significant downside risks for the developed countries, especially European ones and Japan (p. 5). In general, it can be concluded, that the global economy is currently in a state of uncertainty, and many challenges need to be taken into account. US Economy According to BAC (2015), throughout 2014, the US economy was still recovering from the Great Recession, but the significant figures were showing some improvement. Those include the GDP growth that has reached 2 .3%, the decrease in the unemployment rate (5.6%), and the growth of consumption (BAC 2015a, p. 20). In the third quarter of 2015, the GDP of the US increased by 2.1% and the personal disposable income grew by 0.4 %; the US net investment position, however, proceeds to be characterised by liabilities exceeding assets (US Bureau of Economic Analysis 2015). The UN (2015) encourages the Federal Reserve to adjust the interest rates that are indeed expected to be increased; the outcomes of this decision are still unclear (Eavis Picker 2015; Kaletsky 2015). Other significant features of the US economy, as Chafuen (2015) points out, include the increase in the US debt and the disputes over the healthcare policy of the President. The latter has a significant impact on the economy of the country including the reduction of productivity and the increase in the full-time employment cost.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Bank of America Investment Potential specificall y for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Still, in general, the economic situation in the US appears to be more stable and positive-looking than that of the world, even though the aftermaths of the crisis are still noticeable. At the same time, it should be pointed out that the UN (2015) is cautious about making predictions before the interest rates increase. Therefore, it can be concluded that the economic situation in the US is also somewhat vague, especially in the light of the global economic uncertainty. Bank of America Corporation BAC: Overview Founded in 1874, BAC is an international company that offers products and services in the following segments: â€Å"consumer and business banking, consumer real estate services, global wealth and investment management, global banking, and global markets† (BAC 2015a, p. 16; Bloomberg Business 2015). As of 2014, BAC serves about 80% of the US population as it operates in 50 states; apart from that, the compan y is operating internationally in 35 countries; the total number of the company’s customers amounts to 48 million consumers and 4,800 baking centres (BAC 2015a, p. 20). The primary competitors of BAC are the JPMorgan Chase Co, Wells Fargo Company, and Citigroup Inc. Currently, BAC outperforms the latter in the terms of most ratios and parameters, including the market cap, quarterly revenue growth, net income, and price-to-earning ratio. Concerning the latter ratio as well as quarterly revenue growth, BAC also outperforms JPMorgan Chase Co (12.85 as compared to 11.35), but in relation to other parameters, BAC is performing less successfully than the two other organizations (Yahoo Finance 2015a). According to Forbes (2015a), BAC ranks #11 in assets and #37 in market value among the world’s biggest public companies. It is also among Forbes (2015a) Most Valuable Brands list ranked #72. To compare, Wells Fargo is ranked 10 in the list of the biggest public companies (For bes 2015b). These facts show that BAC competes with the strongest players in the market and is being successful. Still, as can be seen from the company’s financial statements, BAC has been underperforming recently. Since the crisis, the profitability ratios of the company have been decreasing, which is natural. At the same time, the data per common share and efficiency ratios have been growing: for example, the return on equity increased from 0.96 in 2011 to 7.13 in 2013 (BAC 2015, pp. 25). In 2013, all the mentioned ratios increased, but in 2014, performance worsened again.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Still, in the terms of efficiency, the 2014 ratios outperform those of the years before 2013 (for example, the return on equity in 2014 equals 2.92). At the same time, it should be mentioned that the long-term debt of BAC has decreased by 3% and total liabilities have decreased 4.5%. According to BAC (2015) this is the result of the company’s intent to decrease its long-term debts and short-term borrowings (p. 25). Investment-relevant conclusions from the data are presented in the following sections. BAC: SWOT SWOT analysis is concerned with determining the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The first two factors describe the company’s inner state while the second part is concerned with the outer influence (Lofthouse 2001, pp. 126-127). The SWOT analysis has been extremely popular as a strategic planning tool due to its advantages: the analysis, which is easy to perform, allows one to have a look at the company’s state and define the areas that require attention along with areas that can provide the necessary options and resources. At the same time, the analysis has been criticised for its disadvantages that include excessive simplicity, vagueness, generalization, and subjectivity of the factors choice (Helms Nixon 2010, pp. 234-235). However, it should be pointed out that all these disadvantages are the innate qualities of SWOT; in other words, the tool is not meant to provide the detailed scheme of a company’s position. The SWOT overview can provide the information about the companys position and future possibilities, which is necessary for this report. The subjectivity of the analysis, however, stays a significant limitation to the analysis. The strengths of BAC are numerous: they include its size, which presupposes a sufficient amount of resources; its age and the consequent experience; its reputation and brand that attract customers. It should be separately pointed out that the brand of the com pany is very likely to attract American customers. Another advantage is the Merrill Lynch, once acquired by BAC, that is now considered to be #1 investment research team (Gasparino 2008; BAC 2015a). The efficiency ratios for the company are quite high; they also suggest that BAC management is quite competent. For the point of view of weaknesses, it should be mentioned that the performance of the company has been deteriorating. This factor is a symptom rather than the weakness itself, but it can signify the weaknesses that would be visible to an insider. Given the facts that the BAC financial report provides numerous reasons for the performance deterioration, both internal and external, this report will consider the performance itself as a weakness that needs to be eliminated. Another potential weakness is the companys reliance on the US market. Still, since BAC has already been expanding into other countries, it can be concluded that the said reliance is not too significant. At the same time, it is obvious that the Bank of America is most popular in the US, and not in other states. The most obvious opportunities of BAC include expansion, primarily, the expansion into other countries and the development of the already penetrated ones to decrease the company’s reliance on the US market. Apart from that, BAC is known for fast expansion through acquisitions and has been successfully carrying out this line of action (Gasparino 2008). The major threats to the BAC, naturally, include the consequences of the crisis and the competition. The latter has been described, and it is obvious, that BAC is performing well, even though the competition is capable of reducing its chances for improved performance. As for the crisis, while the economy of the US is recovering, the problems are still reflected in the consequences that include reduced consumption or lower investment activity (Bloom 2014). These threats need to be managed appropriately, and a giant company like B AC has all the resources to do so. BAC: Share Price Analysis BAC share price is currently $17.43, with the market cap amounting to $181.49 billion (Yahoo Finance 2015a). The share price has been growing, albeit unsteadily, since its rather significant post-crisis fall; the close price in 2014 was $17.89, which is lower than the highest price of 2010, but higher than its close price (BAC 2015a). With the help of historical share prices for the past three years and those of NYSE Composite, the beta of BAC share was estimated to range between 0.52 and 0.82 (Bank of America Corporation 2015b; Yahoo Finance 2015b). It is optimal to compare the beta of a company to a benchmark for the industry (Damodaran, 2006). According to Damodaran (2015), this figure ranges from low to normal for the banking sector in the US (that is 0.81). Lower-beta stocks are less risky; therefore, it can be concluded that BAC is relatively stable, especially when compared to the industry (Bodie, Kane Marcus 2011, p. 577; Damodaran, 2006). This factor may suggest that extreme growth of the price is not to be expected, but it could be regarded as a particularly positive one in the context of the current economic situation. Indeed, in the situation of uncertainty, caused both by economic and political upheavals, people are likely to seek stability. In this respect, BAC has all the advantages needed: it is a long-existing bank with high reputation and a brand name that is bound to attract American customers at the very least. Therefore, if the current uncertainty existing in the market is going to affect the prices of BAC shares in any way, the way is most likely to be positive. The lowering profitability of the company is a much less appealing factor. It is alleviated by the fact that the liabilities of BAC are being reduced purposefully, and that the efficiency ratios are growing in comparison to the previous years (with the exception of the year 2013). The income decrease can be explained by the aftershocks of the recession as well as the new political and economic shocks. As BAC (2015a) determines it, the numerous reasons for the deteriorating performance include increased expenses (in particular, concerning market-related premium amortization) and decreased consumer loan balances. In general, the performance of the year 2013 allows one to suggest that BAC is capable of recovering after the recession; the reputation, experience, and brand name of the company all contribute to this impression. It should be pointed out that the company is performing well in terms of the industry, competing with the world’s largest banks and outperforming some of the competitors in a number of parameters. Therefore, it can be concluded, that the shares of the company would not be expected to drop significantly as a result of deteriorating performance, and the performance is not unlikely to improve in the future. Given the strength of the company’s position, its share price is unlikely to decrease dramatically despite all the mentioned challenges. At the same time, and the next year is more likely to demonstrate how the company is coping with the new difficulties caused by the slow growth of the economy and political upheavals. In this report, it is concluded that the BAC share price has all the chances of increasing or decreasing by a relatively small amount in the next year depending on the way it will respond to the new global economic challenges; therefore, the proposition for it would be to hold. Conclusion The current economic situation is rather unfavourable than favourable, and the challenges that it poses have to be met appropriately. An old, reputed, large international company like BAC is perfectly capable of managing the upcoming threats. The performance of the company has been somewhat deficient, which, however, is the tendency of the world economy nowadays, and, in the terms of the industry, BAC is among the most successful banks. The new year, however, can be characterised by the high uncertainty and anxiety caused by economic and (mostly) politic upheavals. Therefore, as a result of the global uncertainty, the proposal suggested in the report is to hold. Reference List Bank of America Corporation 2015a, 2014 Annual Report, http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/71/71595/AR2014.pdf. Bank of America Corporation 2015b, Historical Price Lookup, http://investor.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71595p=irol-stocklookup. Bloom, N 2014, Fluctuations in Uncertainty, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 153-176. Bloomberg Business 2015, Bank of America Corp, bloomberg.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot_article.asp?ticker=BAC. Bodie, Z, Kane, A Marcus, A 2011, Investments, 10th ed, McGraw Hill, Boston, MA. Chafuen, A 2015, The U.S. Economy in 2015: Challenges and Opportunities, Forbes, 1 January, forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2015/01/01/the-u-s-economy-in-2015-challenges-and-opportunities/. D amodaran, A 2006, Security Analysis for Investment and Cash Finance, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. Damodaran, A 2015, Betas by Sector (US), http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/Betas.html. Eavis, P Picker, L 2015, As Investors Shun Debt, Banks Are Left Holding the Bag, The New York Times, 19 November, nytimes.com/2015/11/20/business/dealbook/as-investors-shun-debt-banks-are-left-holding-the-bag.html?ref=topics. Forbes 2015a, Bank of America, forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america/. Forbes 2015b, Wells Fargo, forbes.com/companies/wells-fargo/. Gasparino, C 2008, Bank of America to Buy Merrill Lynch for $50 Billion, CNBC, 14 September, cnbc.com/id/26708319. Helms, M Nixon, J 2010, Exploring SWOT analysis – where are we now?’ Journal of Strategy and Management, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 215-251. Kaletsky, A 2015, What a US interest rate rise really means for the dollar, The Guardian, 17 November, theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/17/what-a-us-interest-rate-rise-rea lly-means-for-the-dollar. Kawa, L 2015, Four Ways the Oil Price Crash Is Hurting the Global Economy, Bloomberg Business, 8 October, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-07/four-ways-the-oil-price-crash-is-hurting-the-global-economy. Laird, L 2015, The Paris Attacks and the Economic Impact of Terrorism, Forbes, 16 November, forbes.com/sites/laurielaird/2015/11/16/the-paris-attacks-and-the-economic-impact-of-terrorism/. Lofthouse, S 2001, Investment management, 2nd edn, Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex, UK. United Nations 2015, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015, un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/wesp_archive/2015wesp_full_en.pdf. US Bureau of Economic Analysis 2015, U.S. Economy at a Glance: Perspective from the BEA Accounts, bea.gov/newsreleases/glance.htmp. Yahoo Finance 2015a, Bank of America Corporation, http://finance.yahoo.com/q/p?s=BAC+Press+Releases. Yahoo Finance 2015b, NYSE Composite, http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5ENYA.

Leadership Relations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership Relations - Coursework Example First, the leader has to involve the team members, Vanessa P. (2014). everyone within his/her team must feel significant and indispensable. When assigning duties, it should be done with consideration of the individuals interest, rather than imposing. When work is done willingly, the team members are able to face challenges leading to better performance. Second, the leader should encourage the team members to share information with other member of the team as well as the supervisors. Workers are more motivated when they work in groups and also monitor each other, Vanessa P. (2014). they should be allowed to make decisions individually. The leader should only step in cases that are really crucial. Third, the leader should organize forums where the team members meet regularly and discus issues affecting them, Vanessa P. (2014) .The meetings should not be made very formal, where the team members can have or bring a coffee, socialize and complement one another. In such meetings the leader should learn to identify someone who is not in a pleasant mood and take the initiative to assist. Forth, the leader should create ceremonies such as parties, and birthdays for the workers. These parties will go a long way in uniting the team members as well as bonding him to the team. During these parties the leader should identify those who have done well should be identified and praised for their good work as well as rewarded appropriately. During these events the leader should not bring about any work related things but rather let the members interact with one another and bond, Michael, G. (2000). He can also allow them to bring on bond the family members so as to create an environment of joy. Fifth, according to Michael, the leader should also make transparent decisions with no favours or bias, (2000). In times of enacting policies, carrying out appraisals, the leader should ensure that the decisions made are clearly understood and do not have any aspect of favours in

The second language teaching Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

The second language teaching - Research Proposal Example In this light, this paper discusses the design, use and aims of a set of integrated skills materials that have been designed to teach and reinforce the future tense to a group of six students, aged 16-17, who are preparing the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) examination for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The skills covered will range from listening to speaking, and from reading to writing in a ninety-minute session. The learning environment is a small English language institute for non-native speakers (NNS) of English with a modern language laboratory, equipped with a teacher's terminal and twelve individual student terminals. Each student terminal consists of a desk and an internet-enabled computer. The desk is wooden, on the face of which are call buttons to the teacher's terminal, adequate writing space and a mouse, as well as a glass screen giving visibility to the monitor beneath. To one side of the desk is the central processing unit (CPU), providing access to features such as a headset, CD and diskette-drives for individual practice. The teacher's terminal has the same features with additional buttons for her to monitor and assign tasks. In addition, the lab has a whiteboard, flip charts, large television, DVD-player and slide projector, and is next door to the document centre, which has subscriptions to many English language publications. These resources facilitate the employment of a v ariety of integrated materials in facilitating maximum and optimal language acquisition and practice (Levy, 1997). The laboratory offers the learners to opportunity to be immersed in English through a maximum of methods, and accounts in part for their relative ease with the language at their level. Hinkel and Fotos (2002) in their book, New Perspectives in Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms, trace the change in attitudes to and perspectives about effective grammar pedagogy, showing how teachers have moved from textbook delivery and memorization of grammatical rules and structure, through audio-lingual, then functional, then cognitive, then to communicative language teaching (Allwright, 1979, 1990), particularly in L2 contexts (Hinkel and Fotos, 2002, pp. 2-4). The latter approach and its offshoot humanistic approach, developed to correct the problem of learners who "knew grammar rules but could not use the target language communicatively, and others [who] urgently needed immediate survival competency in English" (Hinkel and Fotos, 2002, p. 4). These approaches saw formal language teaching being superceded by "natural" acquisition through real communication, by means of exposure to a variety of language uses, namely listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Financial and Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial and Management Accounting - Essay Example It helms in planning and decision making and is governed by strict international standards. Financial accounting plays crucial role in the business world today. It is through financial accounting that flow of money and resources in a business organization is monitored. This includes wages and salaries among others. Since financial accounting involves preparation of key documents like profit and loss account and balance sheet, it shows how transactions are done over a period of time. It also helps stakeholders and would be investors to make the right decision on investments. Financial accounting is governed by a number of legal requirements and principles. According to Collins and Collins (2009), the business entity principle must be observed. It states that each business establishment must be accounted separately and that personal issues should not be accounted together with the business issues. Cost principle should also be in place. It states that only costs as a result of business dealings should be included in the financial account. Objective principle, which stipulates that all information in the financial accounts should not be subjected to personal opinion, should also be observed. Finally, the going-concerned principle should also be observed. This is a legal requirement that states that business operation will go on as long as the business gains assets and discharges liabilities during its normal operations. Financial accounting has a lot of advantages. According to Daniel (2007), financial accounting helps many business establishments to comply with legal requirements which include tax returns among others. Financial statements, such as balance sheets, help the institution in communication in the organization. Financial accounting also helps in protecting business assets, since flow of money and assets is recorded periodically. Finally, it helps in appropriate decision making,

Impact and Implications of International Trade Agreements

Impact and Implications of International Trade Agreements It also requires from its signatories to extend most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to other trading partners participating in the WTO. MFN status means that each WTO member receives the same tariff treatment for its goods in foreign markets as that extended to the â€Å"most-favoured† country competing in the same market, and in consequence eliminating any possible preferences or discriminatory activities. In 1995 the GATT became the World Trade Organization (WTO), which now encompasses more than 140 member countries, oversees four important international trade agreements: the GATT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights and trade-related investment, which are called respectively TRIPS and TRIMS. Furthermore, GATT permits the formation of free trade areas and customs unions among WTO members. Free trade areas are characterized by elimination of all of tariffs on trade with each of the member countries, with simultaneously remaining autonomous in terms of determining their tariffs with non-members. One of the examples for such an area is included in the objectives of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which is composed primarily of Scandinavian countries. A customs union constitutes a group of countries that eliminate all tariffs on trade among themselves but maintain a common external tariff on trade with countries outside the union. A good example of a formation of a customs union was the European Economic Community (EC) that came into force with the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 by France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux. The Treaty provided for the establishment of a common market, a customs union and common policies[1]. Nowadays it is known as the European Union (EU), it includes twenty-seven European countries and it has gone beyond simply reducing barriers to trade among member states and forming a customs union. EU has achieved its greater economic integration by becoming a common market, which coordinates and harmonizes each country’s tax, industrial and agricultural policies. Many members have also formed a single currency area by replacing their domestic currencies with the euro. Nevertheless, many trade agreements not including duty reduction schemes are later on completed with the objective to arrange an FTA in the future. In cases of agreements including non WTO members, it is usually specified in the agreement that MFN rates will (continue to) be applied. Among many agreements without duty reduction schemes we can enumerate, for instance, the already mentioned Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIT), which set forth actionable standards of conduct that applies to the nation’s government in their treatment of foreign investors, including i.a. fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation and free transfer of means with full protection and security[2]. The amount of signed BIT’s has been constantly increasing, since 1990s from 446 signed agreements to over 2500 active BITs in 2007, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)[3]. To other agreements without duty reduction schemes we can include Foreign In vestment and Protection Agreements (FIPA), Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), Economic Framework Agreement, or Partnership Cooperation Agreement. The growing trend of signing international trade agreements is irreversible in any region of the globe, and is becoming a dominant factor influencing immensely all of the international economic relations nowadays. The more of them are signed, the more urgent the need to assess their actual impact. Thus, it is crucial to correctly evaluate the potential impact of the agreements, especially during theirs negotiation phase. In the recent years there has been a large demand for impact assessment studies of trade agreements, both before and after negotiations. Conducting solid studies concerning their impact is considered to be particularly important for developing countries, because they need to adjust their policies in a way to diminish or completely avoid the possible negative effects and maximize potential benefits. Nevertheless, accurate impact assessment methodology it is not easy from the technical point of view, mainly because of the lack of economic theories which specialize in d eveloping countries. Thus, due to insufficient appropriate knowledge and support, it is difficult for the governments of developing countries to conduct a relevant policy from the economic studies[4]. Furthermore, in conducting an impact assessment analysis of the International Trade agreements it is important to be able to evaluate all of the potential gains, difficulties and implications. Economic theory since the middle of the 18th century has implied numerous advantages in lowering tariffs for most parties in most situations, and economists view the commitment to trade liberalisation as a welfare-maximizing pursuit. The main gain from trade was considered to derive from specialization on the basis of comparative advantage. Income is considered to be growing more rapidly in countries open to international trade than in those more closed to trade. This phenomenon is dramatically illustrated in China’s rapid growth after 1978, and India’s after 1991. These dates indicating when major trade reforms took place in those countries[5]. However we have to keep in mind, that although trade liberalisation in the form of international trade agreements may contribute to the overall national welfare, it is also responsible for disruptive consequences within societies by producing losers and gainers, such as import-competing industries and consumers respectively. Besides economic gains and losses, trade agreements also provide important political outcomes to the parties involved, as a consequence of facilitated international cooperation, institutionalized rules of reciprocity, monitoring and enforcement. It is especially important in terms of conducting impact assessment analyses of trade agreements for developing countries as I have previously written, for which they constitute an important institutional context within which they can build up their coalitions and improve their bargaining position in the global market. Moreover, developing countries prefer more defined rules and greater enforcement capacity. The main reason for this is the fear of marginalization or peripherality, namely the inability of developing countries to take advantage of trade liberalisation and emerging as full players in the international system[6]. Due to their international as well as domestic weaknesses, usually caused by their colonial past, these countries are more of the rule-takers rather than agenda-setters. As an illustration, countries like Brazil and India despite taking part in many negotiations they have repeatedly complained about their concerns being disregarded. The same applies to smaller d eveloping countries which have found it difficult to even take part in key decision making meetings. In addition, there even exist a phenomenon called â€Å"Third World Schizophrenia†, which was used by Mohammed Ayoob in his article â€Å"The Third World in the System of States: Acute Schizophrenia or Growing Pains?†[7] It illustrates the behaviour of developing countries trying to bring about systemic changes and aiming at adjusting to an international order, but as a result of their vulnerabilities and their past they also have the incentive to preserve the existing system of rules that ensures their very survival. As a consequence of these two pressures, decision-making centres of these countries are faced with conflicting demands, and thus this situation is referred to either as schizophrenic, or similar to the growing pains of adolescence. International trade agreements and the liberalisation process that follows them, besides being economically beneficial, it is also very often politically feasible. Due to the fact that some countries are legally binded by multilateral trade organizations and agreements, their lack of commitment may have punitive consequences of various types, depending on the nature of the agreement and its enforcement mechanism. Thus, governments tend to hide behind the possible consequences of lack of obedience that could range from the international disapproval to compensation of all the costs incurred as a result of this country’s actions. By claiming that their international commitments bind them to act freely, they are able to justify especially unpopular actions that are supposed to have longer-term benefits, and not solely in trade manners. This is why many of the programmes of economic and restructuralization reforms from the 1980s and 1990s, in particular those involving both controv ersial and possible distributive consequences for the society, were hidden in the shadow of international economic agreements and organizations[8]. Thus, it comes as no surprise that historically, countries have been reluctant to reduce trade barriers and enthusiastic to raise them, even though the classical trade theory states that gains from trade accrue to any country that lowers their trade barriers, irrespectively of what other countries do. Despite this promise of economic benefits coming from free trade, many states have chosen the path of protectionism throughout history. An example can be found in the case of the Great Depression period, when following the stock market crash of 1929, the US Congress adopted the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act in 1930 that raised US tariffs to an average of nearly 60% interest[9]. Explanation of this behaviour comes from the economic theory and the notion of â€Å"optimal tariff†, which tells us that it may be in the interest of a large economy to restrict trade at a certain â€Å"optimal† level, as it will be a change of the terms of trade in its favour. This obviously does not apply to small economies, for which liberalisation of trade or lack of it may bring different results, conditioned by many economic, political and social factors. For large economies this situation looks different, thus the optimal tariff may appear as a good solution to some of them. However, is it really an efficient one? The interpretation of this problem in terms of the game theory would imply that even though it is in each country’s interest to impose restrictions, the outcome of such action might be inefficient, especially in the long-term calculation. Once one large country will impose restrictions, the other might as well follow this behaviour, which would result in the overall decrease of global market efficiency and economic welfare. Thus, the best way of preventing such a mutually destructive situation from happening is by ensuring mutual reciprocity in trade commitments, which increases the economic gains as well as the output. In any case, mutual reciprocity being a foundation for most of the concluded trade agreements all over the world does not always guarantee their success. Multilateral trade agreements and organisations, such as the WTO, have been accused of inefficiency due to the problem with maintaining and extending the liberal world trading system, slow pace of trade liberalisation negotiations, and inadequate requirements for consensus among the members, which immensely limits the possible scope of reform of trade agreements. Moreover, some sectors such as trade in agriculture, textiles and apparel have not experienced any significant cuts in tariffs, and thus they had much less success, especially in comparison with, for instance, industrial goods. According to UNCTAD data, non duty-free trade still faces an average tariff of about 7% in manufacturing and about 18% in agriculture. All these arguments have raised many concerns, and in consequence many countries have turned away from the multilateral process toward more preferential agreements such as bilateral, or regional ones. An example of such an agreement is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which went into effect in January 1994. Under its terms United States, Canada and Mexico collectively agreed to phase out all tariffs on merchandise trade and to reduce restrictions on service trade as well as foreign investment over a decade[10]. Besides that there exist numerous trade agreements between particular countries, or group of countries, and their number is constantly increasing. It has been particularly observed in terms of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). As of early 2014, there were more than 300 PTAs in force, about half of which also covered services. In 2013, almost half of world trade was taking place between countries that had signed a PTA and almost a third was regulated by deep trade agreements[11]. This increase in PTAs is mostly attributed to the greater promotion of trade among the parties that are signing a PTA, but it is also a good alternative for countries when multilateral negotiations run into difficulties. Moreover, it contributes to the emergence of â€Å"competitive liberalisation†, wherein countries are challenged to reduce trade barriers to keep up with the rest of the world. For instance, after NAFTA was signed and implemented, the EU aimed at signing an FTA with Mexico, in order to ensure that European goods would not be at a competitive disadvantage in the Mexican market. On the other hand, there are still many disadvantages associated with PTAs, such as discriminatory exclusion of certain countries, or the inability to reform certain issues, such as agricultural export subsidies on the bilateral or regional level[12]. Predominantly, it appears that international trade is increasingly more regulated and influenced by policies and instruments reaching beyond tariffs. As of 2013, technical measures and requirements coming from free trade liberalization and international trade agreements regulated about two-thirds of the world trade[13]. Both multilateral and preferential agreements will remain the future of the global economy, shaping its flows and regulating the distribution of wealth. There will always be pressures to include more standards and regulations, and there will always be those that argue that such agreements serve the interests of multinational corporations and not regular citizens. Nevertheless, keeping in mind that free trade contributes to the transfer of technology and knowledge, which is especially important for the developing countries in terms of improved economic welfare, we can not simply despise this concept without accurately evaluating all of its losses and gains. Internation al trade agreements do provide us with a greater measure of certainty in international relations, and they do provide developing countries with one of the few safeguards that they have against the powerful high-income countries. However, it is safe to say that they will continue to generate controversy, and there will always be an intense public discussion surrounding them, and the impact they make. [1] Europa, Summaries of EU legislation. Available from: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_eec_en.htm>. [6 January 2015]. [2] Legal Information Institute, Bilateral investment treaty. Available from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bilateral_investment_treaty>. [6 January 2015]. [3] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Quantitative data on bilateral investment treaties and double taxation treaties. Available from: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DIAE/International Investment Agreements (IIA)/Quantitative-data-on-bilateral-investment-treaties-and-double-taxation-treaties.aspx>. [6 January 2015]. [4] Plummer M. G., Cheong D., Hamanaka S., ‘Methodology for Impact Assessment of Free Trade Agreements’, Asian Development Bank 2010, pp. 7-9. [5] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [6] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 7-8. [7] Ayoob M. ‘The Third World in the System of States: Acute Schizophrenia or Growing Pains?’, International Studies Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1, 1989, pp. 67-79. [8] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 6-7. [9] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 3-7. [10] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [11] ‘Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2014’, Trade Analysis Branch (TAB), Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities (DITC), UNCTAD Secretariat, pp. 10-11. [12] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [13] ‘Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2014’, Trade Analysis Branch (TAB), Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities (DITC), UNCTAD Secretariat, pp. 10-11.

Can Ethical Terms Be Defined? :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Can Ethical Terms Be Defined? The answer might seem obvious. Ethical terms can be defined because they have been. "Good" means pleasure; "good" means utility; "good" means self-realisation, or self interest and so on. Classical moral philosophy philosophers have apparently had no difficulty at all in defning terms like "good". It was just this multitude of different and incompatible definitions however, which led Moore to have some doubts about whether philosophers knew what they were doing when they attempted to define "good". Is it really possible to define "good" as one might define "triangle" or "horse"? Are there not some important differences? Moore is convinced that there are. In the first place, when we define "triangle" or "horse" we know what we are defining in the sense that we can see or at least formulate an empirical representation of what we are talking about. We aren't able to see goodness, or point to it, at least in the same way. Furthermore when we define "triangle" as "an enclosed three sided plane figure", it makes no sense to ask, "but is an enclosed three sided plane figure a triangle"? — not at least if we know what we are talking about, i.e. a triangle. But if we define "good" as pleasure for instance, it does seem to make sense to ask "but is pleasure (really or always) good? Moore is convinced that it makes sense to ask this question, not merely because we may happen to be ignorant of what goodness is, and have thus made a mistake such as would be the case if we defined a triangle as a four sided figure; rather the error occurs because we have confused two quite different kinds of things with one another. We have confused a natural property (pleasure) with a non natural property (good). He calls this kind of error a "naturalistic fallacy". Since it is bound to occur whenever we attempt to identify good with something that isn't, all purported definitions of "good" commit this fallacy. "Good" h e concludes is indefinable This does not mean however that the term "good" is meaningless. On the contrary it is no more meaningless than the term "yellow" which is also indefinable in the requisite sense. Still the question remains. "What does "good" then refer to ?" Certainly not to any sensed property like yellow. It refers, according to Moore, to an intuited and unanalysiable property of goodness which some things have and others do not have.